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from the where's-a-kerbal-when-you-need-one? dept.
SpaceX Crew Dragon simulator challenges you to dock with the ISS, and it's not easy:
It's a good thing I'm not on board the historic SpaceX Crew Dragon launch to the International Space Station scheduled for May 27. It turns out I suck at piloting a spacecraft.
SpaceX released a docking simulator online Tuesday that lets anyone try to safely connect the crew capsule with the ISS. Spoiler alert: I missed.
"This simulator will familiarize you with the controls of the actual interface used by NASA astronauts to manually pilot the SpaceX Dragon 2 vehicles to the International Space Station," SpaceX said, warning that the process "requires patience and precision." I had neither.
My attempt at the delicate dance of control and corrections didn't go well. "Do not use large movements near the ISS," SpaceX advised. I'm pretty sure I accidentally crashed into one of the ISS solar arrays.
Fortunately, the upcoming SpaceX Demo-2 mission will be crewed by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who are trained experts at this whole complicated docking thing.
The astronauts probably won't have to call on their training. "Crew Dragon missions will autonomously dock and undock with the space station, but crew can take manual control of the spacecraft if necessary," SpaceX tweeted.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine also took to Twitter on Tuesday to remind everyone that he aced the simulator on his first try last year. Show-off.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:03PM (3 children)
I trained on Elite, synchronizing with the starion's rotation.
Eventually bought a docking computer, I tired of the work and the occasional scrapes on my spaceship.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Revek on Wednesday May 13 2020, @08:28PM
I trained on kerbal space program. Eventually someone wrote mechjeb. Now ships dock themselves about 80% of the time. I docked to the ISS though today in three minutes. Easy as can be. Zero out roll, yaw and pitch and boost in fast until you get to 10m. Then creep forward and dock.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @10:20PM
Almost in Star Citizen, just 0.1 versions more!
The spaceships come pre-scratched and dusty, with complimentary smears on the windscreen for added immersion, so at least we have that.
(Score: 2) by Kell on Wednesday May 13 2020, @11:17PM
I trained on Orbiter - being a hard-physics accurate representation of space dynamics, virtually all of my skills are transferable to KSP, Space Engineers or other realish environments. If you want something with more depth and an extraordinary difficulty curve, give Orbiter a go. I used to carry my printed (and very thick!) flight operations manual with me on the bus to uni to read up on orbital mechanics... took a long time to master.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 2) by Snospar on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:04PM (5 children)
If you've ever managed to dock anything in orbit above Kerbal then this should be a piece of cake. As they explain, small movements are key and approaching very slowly - just try and do the exact opposite of what you see in Star Wars and you'll be just fine.
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:12PM (1 child)
Pitch Yaw and Roll are relatively stable in the simulator... lock them in on zeroes then translate your Y and Z to zeroes as best you can (they will drift, particularly as you get close), then head in and slow down to "blue speed" as you get close.
Without reading the instructions I had to reset once, but succeeded on the 2nd attempt (after I figured out what the controls were doing...)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @10:14PM
Yeah this was super easy. It would be even easier with a joystick instead of four buttons for translation.
There is a similar docking simulator at Kennedy Space Center which was a bit harder (but still not too bad) because you had limited fuel and once you ran out you couldn't make any more adjustments to your course...
The moon lander one was way harder because gravity.
(Score: 3, Funny) by richtopia on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:59PM (1 child)
I've docked tons of spacecraft in Kerbal. But in this simulator I don't see the MechJeb menu anywhere....
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:33AM
I'm a big mechjeb fan but I've never had good luck with auto docking. Manual docking is easy enough anyway.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday May 13 2020, @08:44PM
Thanks, I came here to ask how this compares to Kerbal. Kerbal Space Program is amazing for learning some fundamental concepts behind rocketry/space travel, although I'm sure there are lots of technical details omitted.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:15PM (2 children)
Try to align with the hexagons and go slow, lunar lander was way more difficult (also bc we never went to the moon but this is another issue)
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:34PM
BTW, three hexes = 666.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @12:16AM
Lunar lander? Was that the predecessor to Jupiter Lander?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:17PM (1 child)
Full throttle @720° spin with a few loops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @12:10AM
For frack's-sake Starbuck!! Combat landings were not authorized!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by WizardFusion on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:25PM (1 child)
Well, that was easy.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @06:57PM
Expect an email, fax, phone call, and a Zoom notification from Musk. He put the sim up to find the next Starfighter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:54PM (4 children)
Rather not support anything connected to Dictator Musk for awhile.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @05:59PM
You are confused about who the actual dictators are. Tesla and Alameda County came to an agreement, so it is moot anyway.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @10:28PM (2 children)
Good choice, son. Boeing cares about their employees, especially the ladies, and wouldn't dream [seattletimes.com] of putting them at risk [king5.com] during this crisis. It's beyond irresponsible of little Elon to open a week sooner.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @12:28AM (1 child)
Why does it matter if "ladies" are affected more than men?
Musk opening isn't the problem people have with him, but rather it's his "My ego is above the law so I will do what I want when I want and you can't touch me" attitude of late.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @12:22PM
The fine American men at Boeing know how to treat a lady right, unlike the musky incel weedbros at Tesla and SpaceX.
Tesla can't be allowed to reopen because the Constitution has been suspended by our hero governors. The firm hand of government must be used to slap Ebong Susk's raw ass into submission.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday May 13 2020, @10:29PM (2 children)
Got it first time too. I hope the real thing shows more significant digits than the sim. Spending several seconds wondering if 0.1 meters was going to change to 0.0 or 0.2 was an unnecessary hassle. I can't say it was *easy*, especially towards the end. For some reason I couldn't get the Z-axis to stabilize and I had to keep correcting it. This made sense when I was far out and might have had some minor deviation in the Yaw-axis. Once again, -0.0 almost certainly hid some significant digits. OTOH, it made no sense at all when I was less than a meter from the station and kept having to zero out the Z-axis. I can't believe the real thing has that much of a pucker factor, or lack of significant digits, unless the haptic and visual feedback factor of reality makes up for it.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by rigrig on Thursday May 14 2020, @12:07AM (1 child)
Pah, you had digits?
My rate of approach was NaN all the way. At least the color changed from green to cyan(and orange) to give some indication, but I do hope the real thing will have actual numbers.
I can't believe we have cars navigating traffic by themselves, but we let humans handle this kind of maneuvering which computers would actually be good at.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 2) by rigrig on Thursday May 14 2020, @12:08AM
Also I can't even be bothered to even read TFS, apparently.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:03PM
YES!!! Docked it first try! [imgur.com] I haven't played a video game in 20 years, etiher.